Friday, October 30, 2015

This weekend, I'm savoring the end of October--the red leaves hanging on to the trees, the last hour of sunlight at dinnertime before the time changes, and still being able to walk on sidewalks that will soon be covered in snow. For today's faves, I'm recapping the posts from the rest of the week, offering a new book giveaway, and sharing the fun photos from our pumpkin-carving family time last night! :)

I'm reminiscing about our trip to the pumpkin farm last weekend. It was exactly the experience that I was hoping for the boys to have! I posted those photos here.

How special is our time with friends! I need more playdates/ momdates in my life. We visited the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center, and our boys had a blast! Read more about that here.

Yesterday, Astleigh and I hosted another Every Girl link-up, and we shared outfits that can easily be taken from DAY to DATE. Mine was a simple white blouse and jeans look that was taken up a notch with accessories. I loved the sweater dresses and leggings that my friends posted about! The link-up is here.

Nolan had a lot of fun with his Candy Corn lesson! We painted with tempera paints and worked on some math activities with Candy Corn. He is a little sponge these days!

This week, I had the chance to review the new NIV Bible for Teen Girls! NIV and Zondervan have a soft spot in my heart because my grandpa is a retired translator for NIV. When I was growing up, he and my grandma spent summers in Europe working with the rest of the committee on different books of the Bible.

This particular version is really perfect for girls ages 13-18. It's designed to help teen girls with their walks with God--finding His will for all areas of their lives. There are so many topics relateable for that age: friends, school, work, sports, dating, loss. I would have LOVED a Bible like this when I was in high school.

There are many, many daily readings and devos by Christian authors like Bethany Hamilton (Soul Surfer), Annie Downs, and Christine Caine.

The Bible literally highlights certain verses that are promises of God. The concordance is solid and helpful. And my favorite part? There are character profiles for the women of the Bible. And not just the women that most of us are familiar with. There is a page each on Joanna, Abigail, Apphia, Dorcus, Eunice, Huldah, Jochebed, Phoebe, Sapphira, Zipporah, etc. I am not a teenager, but I have a lot to learn from my new Bible :)

If you have a teen girl in your life, check out this version! Buy it here from Zondervan. (Or on Amazon in leather.) For a chance to win a copy, enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post!

Last night, we decided to carve one of the pumpkins that we grew in our yard this summer. Nolan has been hearing a lot about Jack 'O Lanterns, and he said that we just had to make one! He is very convincing. ;)

It turns out that Nolan is a little wary of sticking his hand in the pumpkin and getting messy. Ephraim, however, could have dug out seeds all night! He was such a good little helper!

Daddy did most of the carving, and then the boys posed by their first Jack 'O Lantern! Man alive, Daddy can make these boys laugh!

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Halloween weekend! We will be scrambling to get our costumes ready for tomorrow, and I'm so excited for fun with friends!

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Thursday, October 29, 2015

What do you do when your husband comes home and you have 10 minutes to get ready for date night? This morning, Astleigh and I are hosting a link-up party to share outfits that can easily be taken from DAY to DATE! Dates for Steve and me these days are few and far between. If we do happen to get a babysitter, I'm usually buzzing around the house, getting the boys settled before we leave. I don't have time to try on different outfits or figure out which dress goes with which cardigan. It's much more convenient to take the outfit that I'm wearing at the time, and just jazz it up a little bit :)

I think all it takes are accessories, hair, and makeup to achieve a more romantic look.

My day outfits are really basic. I have only a few minutes that I can sneak into my room and grab clothes before the boys start screaming or something breaks because I'm not watching them. I usually gravitate towards jeans, a long tank top, and a simple long-sleeve shirt. Here, I chose a white blouse because it's so easy to match! My makeup is just a swipe of eyeliner and mascara, and a coat of pink lip gloss. As for jewelry, I'm wearing my go-to Kate Spade studs, a white bracelet, and my wedding rings to keep it simple around the house.

I quickly turned this daytime outfit into a date-night (let's-go-out-to-eat) look. I switched out the brown boots for my favorite TOMS booties with a tall heel. I added my lightweight scarf for plenty of color and texture near my face. (Another plus, the scarf covers up the big grease stain on the white shirt that mysteriously appeared. #momlife) It's not a romantic dress like I would ideally choose for a date, but I didn't have to shave my legs. :)

I added several more fancy bracelets to my wrist. Lastly, I went back to my makeup bag for blush, bronzer, a good layer of purple eyeshadow, and a second coat of mascara. I am always excited to leave behind my heavy diaper bag for a small purse or wristlet :)

If you have a Day-to-Date outfit to share, grab our graphic and link up below! I'm looking forward to checking them out! :)

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

I hope you've been enjoying this new little series on preschool crafting and learning! I am really finding a lot of joy in planning these activities for Nolan, and he is eating up the one-on-one time with me! This week, we had a lesson based on a Halloween favorite: CANDY CORN!

I printed a couple of blank candy corn templates (found here) and cut them out. Nolan and I each painted one with yellow, orange, and white tempera paint. He did really well at keeping his colors separate!

Then, we worked on a Candy Corn Activity Book (printed free from My Sister's Suitcase). It's geared for grades K-2, but Nolan was able to keep up with most of it. It has activities for addition, measurement, counting, and patterns.

First, Nolan started by counting out how many candy corn pieces he had. Then, the next page asked him to make a pattern or design with the candy. I may have helped him on a few things here and there :)

We worked on some simple addition problems using the candy corn as visuals.

He had been talking about Jack-O-Lanterns all afternoon, so it was fitting that one activity asked him to make a Jack-O-Lantern face with the candy ;)

The last page was on measurement--but we didn't get there before Ephraim woke up from his nap and started demanding candy.

Pick up a cheap bag of candy corn, and try this with your little buddies! You'll have some educational fun, and get a little sugar high, too :)

If you blog, remember we're sharing outfits that transition from day to date tomorrow for the Every Girl Link-Up! See you then!